One Too Many
by Rico Perrien
Summary: A "What If" had thinks gone slightly differently. Minor language. Brief inconsequential nudity


**One Too Many**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own anything of the Harry Potter empire, the Forest of Dean, any property in the United Kingdom, or much else. Too bad. Also, my list of the horcruxes (horxruces?, see below) does not agree with canon (are you really surprised by this?) for reasons which will be explained.

 **Setting** : AU after the events of December 26, 1997. Ron returned to find Harry in the pond.

 **Evening of December 26, 1997**

Ron Weasley apparated back to the campsite where he had left Hermione and Harry, having left in a major snit.

When he had gotten home, he immediately ran into his twin brothers who promptly gave him a massive dressing-down for abandoning his friends. They rightly pointed out that the way he and Hermione had been at each other' throats for most of their time at Hogwarts, there was no way he even had had any claim to her, and that if it hadn't been for Harry, the two would never have gotten along (given how his comments had left her vulnerable to the troll), and it was more probable that one would have killed the other by now.

They also point out to Ron that he was not the useless little brother he thought he was, as he proved when he and the other five, of what were now being called the DOM Six, had fought trained, mature and experienced Death Eaters to a draw until Voldemort himself showed up. If Ron's part in that fight were better known, he could likely have any witch he wanted, just not Hermione.

Then they threatened to start calling him Percy for trying to blame everything on Harry, unless he pulled his head out of his ass and went back to finish the job like he had promised.

When he arrived, he found Harry being pulled under the waters by the horcrux, in the pond where the Sword of Gryffindor had been secreted. Ron pulled Harry back out of the water and grabbed the Sword. Pulling Harry over to a tree stump, Ron told him to put the locket there and open it. Harry lay the cursed object on the stump and in parseltongue, ordered it to open.

Ron raised the Sword of Gryffindor as the locket tried to taunt him with his worst nightmares and fears. However, the taunts were just the same as Malfoy and the other purebloods had thrown in his face most of his life. The image of Harry and Hermione, naked and embracing, was no longer anything to fear. In the months together in very close quarters, the three had seen each other unclothed at time, when they bathed or were changing. When one took a bath in a stream or a lake, the others had stood guard. The rule that nudity was occasionally seen, but never looked at, had been necessary in order to get along under 'field' conditions.

The old taunts just enraged Ron the more – they no longer worked on him, but just confirmed the evil nature of the thing in front of him. He drove the Sword into the locket with all of his might. The evil artifact was shattered, with an ear-piercing scream and a pulse of magic which knocked him and Harry off their feet and flung them back several metres.

Hearing the screams, Hermione charged out of the tent with her wand in hand, screaming in fury and fear. She saw the two boys sitting on the ground, grimacing and smiling at the same time.

Ron groaned as he lay on top of some inconveniently paced tree roots, and said "Well, that's one more done. Hi Hermione. You look good without your clothes; really good."

She looked puzzled by this comment, and blushed at its implications. She wondered where on earth the comment had come from, given the circumstances.

Harry furrowed his brow and tilted his head. "Hang on! Something is different. When I stabbed the diary, it was louder than this. A lot louder!"

Hermione said "Maybe it's because we're outside, and the diary was in the chamber. Things always sound louder inside buildings."

Harry shook his head. "That's not it, I mean it! This was a lot quieter. There is something else different! Something weird. Hang on a minute, I think there's something really important here."

He frowned while he thought hard, and then Hermione and Ron saw a slight smile begin, as he asked "What do we really know about Voldemort's horcruxes? I mean _**really**_ know. I think this may be significant!"

Hermione went into lecture mode, whereupon Harry and Ron looked at each other and groaned. She looked puzzled at Harry's question, but answered, "Not much really. Dumbledore said that you had to split your soul to make one, and commit murder to do it. He thought that Voldemort likely made seven of them, because seven is a very powerful number magically. We know that the diary was one of them, the Gaunt ring was another, the locket Ron just destroyed was another and there's one lodged in Harry's scar. That makes four. That leaves three we don't know about."

Harry shook his head. "No, Hermione, I think that leaves four."

The other two looked at him like he was out of his mind. Ron started, "Mate….", when Harry held up his hand.

"Hear me out and see if I am missing something. Dumbledore said that Riddle was obsessed with relics of the founders, right? We know he had Slytherin's locket, and we know that most Slytherins hate Gryffindors, because Godric and Salazar were rivals – that hatred is still there, years later. So I think he would certainly make one from a relic of Godric Gryffindor."

"But it can't be the sword, because it can't be a horcrux. If it was, it would have been destroyed when I killed the Basilisk with it and it got some venom on it. Besides, it never felt evil. Anyway, it was stored in the Headmaster's office, where Riddle couldn't have gotten to it."

"I think there must be three other relics of the founders, and then there is something with his snake."

"If he was that concerned about being immortal, Voldemort would have made his seven long before I was born! I think my scar is an unintended eighth horcrux!"

The others thought about this for a minute, and then started nodding in agreement.

Harry continued. "Now comes the important part. I think the diary was the first horcrux, but whether it was created when Myrtle was murdered or not, I don't know. I do know that the image of Riddle from the diary was from when he was in school. I suspect the Gaunt ring was available to him and made into a horcrux when he murdered his father and grandparent, about the same time. When he became Head Boy, he would have had access to some of the relics of the founders, but not Gryffindor's sword. That would make six, and I think the seventh was when he took the snake as his familiar, after he left school and started his climb to power."

"The most important part of this is the power in each horcrux, and his own power. The dairy possessed Ginny almost completely, and the ring had enough compulsion that Dumbledore foolishly put it on, and it poisoned him. The locket, which I assume was the third one, has made us really cranky, but not much more. And I have had this chunk of him in my forehead all my life, and other than a few nightmares and headaches, it hasn't really affected me much."

"Now consider his power any time he and I met. When he killed my parents, his curse rebounded at him. When he went after the Philosopher's Stone, he couldn't bear touching me, and he fled. When he had me kidnapped after the third task, he told Pettigrew to kill Cedric, and when he first came out of the cauldron, he pressed his wand into Pettigrew's Mark to call the other Death Eaters."

"Whenever he was alone, he seems to have had very little power. It was only when the rest of the Death Eaters were right with him that he was powerful. I think the Dark Mark is a leach spell, and he draws his power from the Death Eaters. Remember at the battle at the Department of Mysteries, the six of us were able to fight off most of the dozen or so trained and experienced Death eaters until he showed himself. I mean, we were good, but we can't have been that good – they outnumbered us at least two to one. I think he pulls power from them, making them weaker too."

Hermione interrupted Harry's thoughts. "Now Harry, you have to remember that they probably hadn't really fought anyone who put up any kind of a fight, since Voldemort first came to power."

Ron laughed. "Harry, we were probably the first ones they had even seen in two decades who weren't scared shitless at the sight of them in their cloaks and masks!"

Harry nodded. "Maybe so, but I still think there is more to it. If I'm right, the reason his curse didn't kill me as a baby was, in killing my parents, his soul split. Now here I am really guessing, but the word that was always used is 'split', not divided! That's the word that Slughorn used when he told Riddle about horcruxes. I think that the horcrux ritual splits his soul in two roughly equal parts. So the diary had one-half of his original soul, the ring had half of what was left, and so was a quarter, the locket had an eighth, and so on. By the time he killed my mom and dad, he had so little of his soul left in his own that he couldn't complete the job. Also, the creation, even if accidental, of an eighth horcrux broke the magical seven, and this weakened him further."

"I wonder if there is a minimum amount of soul he still needs in order to remain alive? If so, maybe we can do something, destroying some of his horcruxes in a way that is so obvious, that he tries to make more, and this may kill him."

Hermione smiled. "Are you suggesting that the 'Power-He-Knows-Not' may be that he is terrible at maths? He doesn't know his fractions?"

Harry smiled sheepishly, "Maybe so. It all fits, doesn't it. I wonder…- Dumbledore thought that Voldemort may have hidden one or more of his horcruxes at Hogwarts, somewhere safe. I wonder if we can get into…"

"Hang on. We know someone who works there who may be able to help us."

As Hermione and Ron tried to think of who he meant, and looking into space at nothing in particular, he called out "Dobby"

With a small pop, his devoted house elf friend appeared. "The great Harry Potter calls for Dobby. What does Harry Potter sir want?"

Harry smiled at the diminutive elf. "Thank you for coming Dobby. I am sorry I forgot that you could find me whenever and wherever I was. Are you still working at Hogwarts?"

The elf nodded vigorously. "Dobby is being working in the kitchens there, but he would prefer to work for Harry Potter sir."

Harry nodded. "When things are safer, we can work on that, okay?" Dobby nodded his head so hard Harry thought it might fall off.

Harry continued. "Dobby, can you find something at Hogwarts that was hidden a long time ago? Something hidden by Voldemort?"

Dobby looked like he was going to cry. "Dobby is sorry, Harry Potter sir. Riddle that is Voldemort was from before Dobby was born, and Dobby's family were servants of Dobby's bad old master. So Dobby is not knowing much about him or what he is doing with things that he made into nasties. Dobby is knowing some things at Hogwarts, like where is rooms where food is kept or where rooms are, but not what is in them. But Clunny might be knowing! Yes, Clunny might be knowing."

Hermione frowned. "Who is this Clunny?"

Dobby smiled. "Clunny is the old-one elf at Hogwarts. He has been head elf for many many years. Are you wanting to be meeting Clunny?"

Hermione looked at Harry and Ron, and nodded, "Yes Dobby, we would very much like to meet this Clunny. I wonder if this Clunny would know where Riddle may have hidden 'something' at Hogwarts, if he had done so when he was there." The two boys understood well what she meant by 'something'.

Dobby nodded happily. "Clunny is knowing many things. Being head elf, he is knowing what is in the Come-and-Go room, even in the Hiding Place part of the room. He might be finding what you are looking for. Dobby will go get Clunny." With this he popped away, returning with a very elderly elf.

Harry held out his hand to Clunny. "Hello Clunny. I am Harry Potter, and…"

Clunny reached out and shook Harry's hand, nodding and saying, "Clunny is knowing Harry Potter and his friends. You was not seeing Clunny when you was being at Hogwarts, but Cunny is seeing you there. Dobby Elf is telling Clunny that Harry Potter is looking for hidden things at Hogwarts. If Clunny can help Harry Potter, he will, and all the elves at Hogwarts will help if needed."

Hermione looked puzzled. "Excuse me Clunny, but aren't you required to be loyal to Hogwarts and its Headmasters?"

The old elf smiled at her. "You are the one who tried to free the elves who didn't want to be free. You didn't know, but your heart was true. Your question is a good one."

"You are seeing, the Ministry and the bad wizards are not knowing the Secret of the Saying." At her puzzled look, he continued, "Hogwarts elves are bound to Hogwarts, and Hogwarts is loyal to the true Headmaster. When the old Headmaster is wanting to retire, he or she is calling their successor into the office, and tells them and only them the Secret of the Saying. Then, together, they are Saying to Hogwarts that this is the new Headmaster. Then Hogwarts, and we elves who serve her, know their loyalty is to the new Headmaster. Only the true Headmaster can transfer the loyalty of the castle and the elves."

The old elf. frowned. "The bad wizards took over the castle, but is not knowing the Saying. They did not know even _about_ the Saying. Is a Secret for the Headmasters only. So the Boss at the castle is not a true Headmaster. He and his cohorts is disgracing Hogwarts and everything it has standed for. Also, he is contempting all the house elves and we is not loyalling him or his servants. The castle does not answer to him either. So, we can help Harry Potter and his companions, and we _will_ help them." The old elf was in tears as he made this final commitment. It was plain that the current situation at Hogwarts was intolerable to the proud elder who had served the castle honourably for so long.

The three humans looked at each other in delight. This was beyond anything they could have hoped for.

Harry held the old elf's hands in his, and thanked him profusely. He then asked, "were you at Hogwarts when Tom Riddle was a student?"

The old elf looked disgusted. "Clunny was there, and long before that. The Riddle boy was a liar and a cheat, and was the worst of bad. He lied and got Hagrid thrown into Azkaban for something he did hisself. He fooled the old Headmaster with his lies. He maded abominations for things from the Wizards who started Hogwarts. Nasty, vicious, evil!"

Clunny looked at Harry in a serious way. "What is it you is looking for? If it is in the Castle, we will find it."

Harry explained to the old elf that they were looking for those relics of the founders that Riddle had used to make his horcruxes. The old elf grimaced, and said "Clunny is knowing where there is two old relics that evil wizard made into abominations. They is in the Hiding Room, part of the Come-and-Go room. There is what was a pretty crown thing from Founder Ravenclaw, and a steel glove from Founder Gryffindor. The thingies is evil, and there is a spell on them so elves cannot touch them. If elves _could_ touch, we would have destroyed them long ago."

Harry thanked Clunny, and said, "we need to think of how we can get those two and how we can destroy them. Thank you Clunny, and Dobby, that helps a lot!"

Ron smiled. "Well now that we have that figured out, have we got anything to eat? I'm hungry."

Hermione shook her head. "We're getting really low on provisions, Ron. It's kind of dangerous to go to the shops, you know."

Ron groaned. "Too bad we can't have the house elves at Hogwarts bring us something."

Harry looked stunned. "I never thought about that. You're right."

Harry smiled at the two elves and asked, "Can you manage to bring some food for us from the kitchens, without anybody knowing about it?"

Dobby looked at Clunny for permission. When the elder elf smiled and nodded, Dooby disappeared, reappearing with a big basket of food. He said, "I is telling other elves that the food was for some hungry friends. They knew that Clunny is knowing. I did not say it was for Harry Potter sir and his Miss Grangey and Mr. Weasey, but you can have whatever you like. Dobby can bring. Elves will never be telling bad Boss wizard that extra food is disappearing."

Hermione asked the elves, "Can you join us for a meal? We really appreciate what you have done and what you are doing."

The elves looked at each other and Clunny shook his head. "We is needed at Hogwarts. It is time to start cooking and feeding the students as stayed over their holidays. We also is needing to, as you say, cook the books, so disappearing food is not disappearing." The five laughed, and the humans once again thanked the elves.

Just before the elves disappeared, Harry asked, "Clunny, you said that the elves could not touch the abominations. I need to ask, how close can you get to them?"

Clunny looked at Harry and then at Dobby, and thought for a moment. "It is years since any elf tried. Some wanted to get rid of them and were hurt bad when they got too close. If I is remembering right, an elf could get about two elf-talls away from the nasties, without hurting. A bit more than a human-tall."

Harry thanked them, the two elves left, and the humans sat down to their first large meal in months (at least for the two who had not gone home to his mother's cooking)

As they ate, both Ron and Hermione had their foreheads in a bit of a furrow. They were obviously thinking deeply about what the day had shown them. Finally, Hermione spoke and asked, "Harry, what did Riddle look like when you met him in the Chamber of Secrets?"

Harry frowned a bit. "Well, if I recall correctly, he was wearing Slytherin robes, and looked about 16 or 17 years old. A bit thin, I think."

Hermione shook her head. "That's not what I meant. Perhaps being as you were twelve at the time, and a boy, you didn't notice. What I mean is, anything we found about him in the school's records indicated he was a very handsome boy."

Harry thought back. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

Hermione smiled. "Then I think you are right about him not having the same power, or the same amount of his soul, as when he created the first horcrux. If he wanted to be immortal, and live forever, I would think he would want to be as handsome as possible. We've seen him as he is now! I can't imagine going through eternity looking like some foul snake hybrid. I mean, how much soul does a snake have, if any. When he came out of the cauldron, and before he summoned the Death Eaters, maybe that's all he could manage. You mentioned that he did not summon the Death Eaters himself, but used Pettigrew's Dark Mark to do it"

"I've been thinking…" (Harry and Ron nodded and smiled at each other, much to Hermione's annoyance) "If you are correct about the soul splitting into two equal pieces, he should have only one part in 256 of his original soul. He may not have enough power to make himself attractive anymore!"

Ron and Harry looked pensive and nodded in thought. Harry said, "I think you're right."

Still nodding, Ron asked, "have either of you poked a stick into a badger's hole?"

Turning to look at their friend, Harry said "Where the hell did that come from?" on which Hermione admonished him for his language.

Ron laughed, "You have to remember, I grew up with older brothers who kept trying to get me into trouble. The trick with annoying a badger is to make sure you have a long enough pole so you can get away when the badger comes storming out of its den. They're vicious!"

"Anyway, Clunny said that the elves could only get about two, what did he call it, elf-talls from the horcruxes. That's about two metres. What if we got a couple of elves to use some longish poles, say about three metres long, and lift the horcruxes into a bag or sack and then get them to us, or move them to a place where we could get them?

Hermione started to snicker, which puzzled the boys. "You are suggesting poles three metres long. You would be asking them to use them to get near something you wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole! Sounds about right."

All three laughed at her conclusion.

Still smirking, Harry said "Well, I guess that gives us an idea of how to get a hold of them, but how should we destroy them? Too bad we don't have any basilisk venom – that worked pretty well. But the elves can't get into the chamber, and I don't see them letting me in to retrieve some any time soon, either."

Ron said, "you were bitten by the basilisk, so you might have some basilisk venom in your blood."

Harry shook his head, and tapped his scar with his index finger. "If there was any basilisk venom in my system, this thing would have gone long ago. Nice idea, but too bad. Anything else?"

Ron stared at him. "Well, duh! We've got the sword!"

Harry nodded. "You're right, Ron. We have the sword. But I'm starting to think of something a little more spectacular, something that would tell Voldy that we were onto him and had destroyed some of his trinkets. Any ideas?"

Hermione pulled a couple books out from her ever-present book-bag. "I have a bit of an idea. Did you ever read Lord of the Rings?" The two boys shook their heads.

She continued as she held up one book, "One of my all-time favourite books. It's a story where the Dark Lord in the book had an evil magic ring, and they had to throw it into a volcano to destroy it. That gave me an idea." Holding up the other book, "This book is called _Muggle Stories and Magical History_ , which tells how a lot of magical history was witnessed by muggles who couldn't understand what was going on, and over time was written down as fairy tales. It mainly tries to point out how stupid muggles are, but it is an interesting idea. In the library, I came across a book telling how a dark wizard about two thousand years ago had enchanted something very powerful, and when they overthrew him, they tossed the object into Mount Vesuvius in Italy. The eruption it caused is what destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum. Volcano fire could destroy the horcruxes."

Ron smiled. "Okay, so all we need is a volcano. Got one handy?"

Hermione grimaced and looked downcast. "Ah yes, there is that little problem. Damn!"

Ron and Harry looked at each other and smiled. Together, they admonished "Hermione, language!"

She looked at the two boys in shock, and then they all laughed.

Harry thought for a moment. Looking at his companions, he asked, "Didn't we hear of some spell which made an extremely hot fire, that was hard to control. Maybe that would work."

Hermione looked shocked. "You mean fiendfyre? That's awfully dangerous. Hang on a minute." She got up from the table where they had been eating and ran over to the small bookshelf in the tent. Scanning through the books, she grabbed one and said "Ah, here it is."

Returning to the table, she spread the book out. "This is a book on chemistry and its uses by the military. My dad had it at home from his army days – he wouldn't tell me exactly what he did in the army but he had some really strange books. He said he had gotten rid of the nastier ones, so they must have been really something. Anyway,…" and she pointed at the page, "There is this chemical mixture called thermite, that burns really really hot. They used it for welding things in the field where they didn't have the gases or electricity for usual welding, and I gather they also used it to set fire to things they needed to burn. Like horcruxes, maybe? According to this book, it's very easy to make."

Harry nodded. "Sound like a good idea. Thanks."

Then he frowned a bit. "How are we going to get it to Voldemort's attention? Letting him know that we just destroyed two of his prizes?

Ron thought for a minute. "I think I know, and I think we can make it three horcruxes at once, if I'm right."

Hermione and Harry looked at him eagerly.

He said, "I heard rumours that the Malfoys always host a big society 'do' at New Year's. A lot of the Ministry people get invited, although not my parents of course, being blood traitors and all. That's how I heard about it. I would expect a lot of the inner circle of Death Eaters would be there, and maybe Voldemort himself. And where he goes, I imagine his snake goes too."

Harry nodded. "And if the party has a lot of the Death Eaters there, we might be able to get rid of his power sources as well. Great!"

Hermione looked a bit nonplused. "You are thinking of killing a lot of people?"

Harry nodded. "Hermione, they are Death Eaters. They have been trying to kill us for the last year and more. Maybe we just scare the crap out of them so they stay away from him. But right now, I would't really feel too bad about killing them."

She nodded somewhat reluctantly. "Right. Just checking."

Ron thought for a moment. "Okay, we have a way to get two of the horcruxes, we have a way to destroy them, and we have a target that we don't have a clue where it is. How on earth are we going to pull this off?"

Harry smiled. "Thanks Ron, you just gave me an idea. Maybe we don't do it 'on earth'."

His two companions stared at him like he was crazy.

Harry thought a bit more. "I assume that the Malfoy place has all sorts of wards around it. Does anyone know how high the wards go up? I mean, they can't go all the way up to space, can they? And do they stop non-magical objects? Dobby lived there for a long time; maybe he would know or can find out."

Hermione shrugged. "I don't see where that matters. What are you thinking of?"

Harry started tapping the table with his finger as he spoke. "We know the elves can't touch the horcruxes, but they might be able to use some long poles and move them into something, a bag or something like it. We fill the bag with this thermite stuff, and attach a long rope to it. Ron or I or the two of us get on our brooms and holding the rope, fly over top of the wards above the Malfoy place during their party. We let go of the ropes and ignite the bag setting fire to the thermite or using fiendfyre or whatever, and let it fall through the wards. The package lands on the house, burns up the horcruxes and maybe the house, scaring the party-goers away. If we can use fiendfyre, it should wipe out the house and everyone in it, if I recall correctly. With luck, it may kill a few Death Eaters and maybe the snake. If old Voldey is there too, who knows."

"If he can feel the destruction of the horcruxes, he may try to make more. If he has lost the Death Eaters, or they have gone far enough away so he can't suck their power – remember when he reincorporated, he couldn't draw on their power until they were physically present – he might not have the power to do it. It may even weaken him critically."

After the Christmas break and Boxing Day, workers at the shipyards of Aberdeen, Glasgow, and several other Scottish seaports, arrived at their worksites, expecting to spent the next week grinding the rust off machinery. Instead, they found every piece of equipment clean and polished to where they looked like new. Looking at the security videos, looking for whoever had broken into the yards, and what they might have stolen (although no thefts were evident), they saw no vehicles entering or leaving the yards, and other than a few blurry images in the middle of the night, nothing to explain why the tedious chore was no longer required.

Severus Snape, lately appointed Headmaster at Hogwarts, was signing the requisitions that his teaching staff had submitted and the old house elf had put onto his desk. One odd one caught his attention for a moment, but if one of the Dark Lord's hand-picked 'teachers' needed 500 kilograms of powered aluminium for some unknown reason, who was he to question it – asking too many questions tended to get rather painful. The fact that the teacher required it to be delivered two days before New Year's day was a little strange, but maybe there was some preparation for when the students returned from their holidays. Snape signed the form to approve it, and the old elf took it away to be filled. Snape failed to note the smile on the elf's face.

Around midnight on New Year's Eve, the party at Malfoy Manor was going strong. House elves were popping in and out restocking the bar and bringing more food for the partiers.

As most of the attendees treated house elves like living furniture, and the fact that a number of the Hogwarts elves had been seconded to the soiree to keep up with the festivities as they got more raucous, they failed to notice an extra elf popping in and out looking around the house. Had they bothered to look carefully, they would have noticed that the extra elf was wearing socks.

Just before midnight which would signal the start of the New Year (and guaranteeing that the whole crowd would be assembled in the main ballroom for the champagne toasts), two brooms carrying four people (three larger and one smaller) were two and a half kilometers about the mansion. The brooms were of the highest quality, having been 'borrowed' from the Slytherin team locker.

Between the two brooms was slung a large sack, which had been enchanted with the feather-light charm, as it would have been much too heavy otherwise.

After his reconnaissance (having been a Malfoy elf, he could transit the wards which had not been reset by his former masters), Dobby pointed directions until they were directly over where a large snake was resting after consuming one of the involuntary 'guests'. At this point, Harry and Ron pointed their brooms straight down and went into a power dive, with Hermione screaming her head off.

As they got up to full speed just before the threshold of the Manor's wards, Hermione cast the finite charm onto the bag, followed quickly by the fiendfyre curse. The sack burst into flame, and it was released where it continued accelerating downward now that its weight had be re-activated. The brooms veered sharply leaving the immediate vicinity to a safe distance, where the group stopped to watch.

Within the Manor, Voldemort suddenly felt a sharp weakening of his power, just as the ton of flame crashed through the roof and ceiling directly on top of his snake. There was a sharp shriek as the horcrux in the snake was destroyed. The fiendfyre started the entire house on fire, and the party guests started to flee in panic, those who were not yet overcome with drink or sufficiently incapacitated to apparate effectively. Several limbs were left behind in the rush.

The Dark Lord took a moment to think, and already the moment took too long. Obviously, one of his horcruxes had just been destroyed, and the sudden weakening indicated that the impossible had happened, and others had also been destroyed. He needed new ones immediately.

Grabbing a crystal chalice, he turned to Bellatrix LeStrange, who as always had remained at his side. Drawing his wand, he cast the killing curse at her, and attempted to split his soul one more time. Unfortunately for the Dark Lord, he had not known two essential bits of magic:

The victim of your murder had to be an innocent. Whatever else she was, Bellatrix could never have been accused of being innocent.

There was a certain minimum amount of soul required for the horcrux, and Voldemort didn't have that much left.

The soul fragment left the magical construct that was his body, and like some of the party guests, both the fragment and the body were consumed by the fiendfyre and burning thermite. Dobby had warned the Hogwarts elves to be ready to flee, and they had left with all the other elves who would come. There were no remains to be identified once the fire went out.

Years later, when Harry Potter left this life for the great hereafter, the horcrux in his forehead left for what they jokingly called the Great Wherever. This remaining fragment of Tom Riddle's soul wandered across the earth's surface impotently finding that it was not capable of forming a ghost, and indeed was not even powerful enough to possess bacteria.

After the requisite fifteen hundred year of inactivity, the goblins at Gringotts opened the Lestrange vaults, and removed the contents. The Goblin-made cup, that had belonged to Helga Hufflepuff, was melted down, releasing a black cloud with a scream which startled the goblin goldsmiths.

Until the sun transitions into its red giant phase and incinerates the earth, the lone soul fragment will drift around the world, never able to settle anywhere.

Tom Riddle had wished to immortality. Be careful what you wish for.

 **Authors notes** : I think that Voldemort would have created his 7 horcruxes as soon as he was able, not waiting until after Harry was born, and certainly not after his reincarnation. There is a possibility that he would try to create new ones once he realized that some had been destroyed, hence this story.

As I see it, the horcruxes, in chronological order, would be:

The diary, 1943

The Gaunt ring, 1943 summer after murdering his father and grandparents (this accounts for the Slytherin horcrux)

The Slytherin Locket (as Slytherin prefect and then Head Boy, he would have early access to this) 1943-44?

The Gryffindor gauntlet. As Head Boy, he would have access to some relics, but not the Gryffindor sword which was kept in the Headmasters office. I surmise he would have used something from Gryffindor, due to the mutual suspicion and hatred between the two houses (not so much the other houses, although I suspect contempt). 1944 to 45

The Ravenclaw diadem, the Hufflepuff cup (being relics of the other two founders). Same timeframe

A ruby or diamond, which was imbedded in the snake Nagini. This also caused the snake to grow to a large size and survive for an extended time, well beyond the normal lifespan for a snake. This occurred after he left Hogwarts (post-1945) as snakes were not acceptable pets and he had started his rise. A precious stone would not corrode in the snake's body. If he was that obsessed with his own immortality, he would have created his seven as soon as he could.

Harry's scar.

In my opinion, the Power-he-knows-not' was having willing allies, not slaves.

The last line of the story arrived by plot-bunny, and wouldn't leave me alone.


End file.
